Work Overview

Written for the Rhapsody Composing Project in 2013,
birds(unfalling) was inspired by, and intended to
accompany Sian Tucker's enormous mobile installation Falling
Leaves at The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Two aspects
of Sian Tucker's Falling Leaves struck me immediately.
The first is what I would call the 'beautiful illusion of motion'
that it evokes. While we are told the leaves are falling, and are
happy to experience it this way, in reality their movement is
more stylized, rotating slowly on their axes, going everywhere
and nowhere at once. They could, really, be moving up or down,
but are doing neither in the most beguiling way.

It also occurred to me that only half the story is told by the
title, and that the birds within the mix of leaves have their own
trajectory, creating a beautiful counterpoint.
birds(unfalling) tries to complete the sculpture by
contemplating their complimentary motion.

The sung text has no meaning, as such, but is drawn from
different combinations of the species names of Australian doves.
Their common names also seem to evoke the colour and sentiment of
Falling Leaves with birds such as the Emerald Dove, the
Rose-Crowned Fruit-Dove, the Orange-Bellied Fruit Dove and the
Diamond Dove, together with the Peaceful Dove. The syllables, and
combinations have been chosen and are combined for their sonic
qualities, as well as these allusions.